I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5924 To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a loan repayment program to encourage specialty medicine physicians to serve in rural communities experiencing a shortage of specialty medicine physicians, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 18, 2020 Mr. MCKINLEY (for himself and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a loan repayment program to encourage specialty medicine physicians to serve in rural communities experiencing a shortage of specialty medicine physicians, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SPECIALTY WORKFORCE IN RURAL COMMU- 3 NITIES. 4 Title VII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 5 292 et seq.) is amended— 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5924.IH H5924 pamtmann on DSKBC47HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5924 IH (1) by redesignating part G (42 U.S.C. 795j et 1 seq.) as part H; and 2 (2) by inserting after part F (42 U.S.C. 295h) 3 the following new part: 4 ‘‘PART G—SPECIALTY MEDICINE WORKFORCE IN 5 RURAL COMMUNITIES 6 ‘‘SEC. 782. LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM. 7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 8 the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services 9 Administration, shall carry out a program under which— 10 ‘‘(1) the Secretary enters into agreements with 11 specialty medicine physicians to make payments in 12 accordance with subsection (b) on the principal of 13 and interest on any eligible loans described in sub- 14 section (c); and 15 ‘‘(2) the specialty medicine physicians each 16 agree to complete a period of obligated service de- 17 scribed in subsection (d) as a specialty medicine 18 physician in the United States in a rural community 19 experiencing a shortage of specialty medicine physi- 20 cians. 21 ‘‘(b) PAYMENTS.—For each year of obligated service 22 by a specialty medicine physician pursuant to an agree- 23 ment under subsection (a), the Secretary shall make a 24 payment to such physician as follows: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5924.IH H5924 pamtmann on DSKBC47HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5924 IH ‘‘(1) SERVICE IN SHORTAGE AREA.—The Sec- 1 retary shall pay— 2 ‘‘(A) for each year of obligated service by 3 a specialty medicine physician pursuant to an 4 agreement under subsection (a), 1⁄6 of the prin- 5 cipal of and interest on each eligible loan of the 6 physician which is outstanding on the date the 7 physician began service pursuant to the agree- 8 ment; and 9 ‘‘(B) for completion of the sixth and final 10 year of such service, the remainder of such 11 principal and interest. 12 ‘‘(2) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The total amount of 13 payments under this section to any specialty medi- 14 cine physician shall not exceed $250,000. 15 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE LOANS.—The loans eligible for repay- 16 ment under this section are each of the following: 17 ‘‘(1) Any loan for education in specialty medi- 18 cine. 19 ‘‘(2) Any Federal Direct Stafford Loan, Fed- 20 eral Direct PLUS Loan, Federal Direct Unsub- 21 sidized Stafford Loan, or Federal Direct Consolida- 22 tion Loan (as such terms are used in section 455 of 23 the Higher Education Act of 1965). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5924.IH H5924 pamtmann on DSKBC47HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5924 IH ‘‘(3) Any Federal Perkins Loan under part E 1 of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965. 2 ‘‘(4) Any other Federal loan as determined ap- 3 propriate by the Secretary. 4 ‘‘(d) PERIOD OF OBLIGATED SERVICE.—Any spe- 5 cialty medicine physician receiving payments under this 6 section as required by an agreement under subsection (a) 7 shall agree to a 6-year commitment to full-time employ- 8 ment, with no more than 1 year passing between any 2 9 years of covered employment, as a specialty medicine phy- 10 sician in the United States in a rural community experi- 11 encing a shortage of specialty medicine physicians. 12 ‘‘(e) INELIGIBILITY FOR DOUBLE BENEFITS.—No 13 borrower may, for the same service, receive a reduction 14 of loan obligations or a loan repayment under both— 15 ‘‘(1) this section; and 16 ‘‘(2) any Federally supported loan forgiveness 17 program, including under section 338B, 338I, or 18 846 of this Act, or section 428J, 428L, 455(m), or 19 460 of the Higher Education Act of 1965. 20 ‘‘(f) BREACH.— 21 ‘‘(1) LIQUIDATED DAMAGES FORMULA.—The 22 Secretary may establish a liquidated damages for- 23 mula to be used in the event of a breach of an 24 agreement entered into under subsection (a). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5924.IH H5924 pamtmann on DSKBC47HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5924 IH ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The failure by a specialty 1 medicine physician to complete the full period of 2 service obligated pursuant to such an agreement, 3 taken alone, shall not constitute a breach of the 4 agreement, so long as the physician completed in 5 good faith the years of service for which payments 6 were made to the physician under this section. 7 ‘‘(g) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 5 8 years after the date of enactment of this section, and not 9 less than every other year thereafter through fiscal year 10 2030, the Secretary shall report to Congress on— 11 ‘‘(1) the practice location of physicians partici- 12 pating, or who have participated, in the loan repay- 13 ment program under this section; and 14 ‘‘(2) the impact of the loan repayment program 15 under this section on the availability of specialty 16 medicine services in the United States in rural com- 17 munities experiencing a shortage of specialty medi- 18 cine physicians. 19 ‘‘(h) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term specialty 20 medicine physician means a physician practicing in a spe- 21 cialty identified in the December 2008 report of the 22 Health Resources and Services Administration entitled 23 ‘The Physician Workforce: Projections and Research into 24 Current Issues Affecting Supply and Demand’ as a spe- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5924.IH H5924 pamtmann on DSKBC47HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 5924 IH cialty whose baseline projected demand exceeds its pro- 1 jected supply for the period of 2005 through 2020. 2 ‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 3 carry out this section, there are authorized to be appro- 4 priated such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 5 2021 through 2030.’’. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Feb 20, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5924.IH H5924 pamtmann on DSKBC47HB2PROD with BILLS